Newcastle Summer Ale

From the home of Newcastle Brown Ale, nicknamed “the dog” in England, a summer beer brewed exclusively for the export market.

ABV: 4.4ABW: 3.5Bitterness: 26Original gravity: n/a

If they could bottle summer sunlight, it would pour out looking like this. Pouring a gorgeous sunbeam yellow with a cumulus-cloud white head that dissipates to a slight skiff, grassy-earthy aromas greet the nose in this summer offering. A sturdy bitterness comes on strong at first sip, with a slight sweetness sneaking in near the middle. A drying astringency and a lingering bitterness enter at the finish line, enticing you to take another sip. A great beer to pair with summer activities -- and summertime foods such as barbecue, seafood and salads.- Lisa Morrison

Brewed by Caledonian in Scotland for export to the US: this is not a beer known on our side of the Atlantic. My eyes and nose detect a fair amount of promise – an appealing golden colour, and an aroma filled with sharp red berry-like fruit and honeyed malt. Unusually, there are more sharp berry flavours in the bittersweet taste. Sadly, it all comes over as a bit tired and dull, and the overall impression is of a decent beer fighting against the packaging process and struggling to get out. Hopefully, I just received a duff sample.- Jeff Evans

Lisa MorrisonLisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.

Jeff EvansAuthor of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.